How long has Hunter Renfrow been at Clemson?
Well, former wide receivers Ray-Ray McCloud and Deon Cain both came to Clemson after he did, and now both are already gone and playing the NFL.
“That’s kind of hard,” Renfrow said with a smile when he thought about it following Friday’s practice.
Renfrow, along with Trevion Thomson, is one of just two seniors on a receiving corps, though extremely talented, that is very young. Two of the three starters in Clemson three wide receiver sets are sophomores. Tee Higgins is starting on the boundary, while Amari Rodgers is the starter on the field side. Freshman Justyn Ross is one of the backups on the boundary while fellow freshman Derion Kendrick is Rodgers’ backup.
In other words, Renfrow, who was redshirted in 2014, is four to five years older than four of Clemson’s up-and-coming stars. It is a weird dynamic for Renfrow when so many of the other positions are laden with upper classmen and veteran players.
“We talk about it all the time that the days are long and the years are short,” Renfrow said. “That is definitely true. I feel like I have been here forever, but I also feel like I just got here yesterday. So I am just trying to take advantage of this last year, whether it is leadership or whatever the team needs and hopefully have a great year.”
It is also interesting, because of all the success Clemson has had at the wide receiver positions, the expectations are still the same as it was when Mike Williams, Deandre Hopkins, Sammy Watkins and Martavis Bryant were all doing their thing over at Death Valley.
“We have had some studs over the last five or six years with Sammy and those guys, then Deon, Ray-Ray and Mike, but really, we are just trying to be the best that we can be as this wide receiver group,” Renfrow said. “We can look a see what those groups did so special, but we want to have our identity and hopefully do some things well, where hopefully the next group will talk about us.”
Time will tell. As for right now, Renfrow enjoys being the old guy in the group and he is looking forward to seeing how the younger players and everyone else in the group performs and develops this coming season.
“Nothing changes,” Renfrow said. “We have a lot of competition. Every single year it seems like everyone gets better so the competition is the same so you have to have that one rep mentality because you are going to get exposed out here.
“If I don’t bring my best then K’Von Wallace is going to expose me. No matter who it is. The same thing that got us to the Sugar Bowl last year is going to get us back to the playoff this year, we just have to finish it this time. We are focused on winning the opener. If we take it like that then the rest will take care of itself.”
